BLENNOMdlil'll.s. 



211 



Thf fc'ciinditA' of this species is apparent!}' not great. 

 Krovkk assmnes the number of e"i;'s in a fnll-o;rown 



therefore assumes that Armed Bullheads of this size 



are a year old. 



female at about ;'i,()00, a number which is insigniticaut ! The Armed IJullhead is occasionally caught in 



comi)ared with that in nK)St other fishes. Accorfling 1 Herring-nets or Eel-])ots; but as it is not used as food, 



to the same author the l'r\- have reached b\' Septcndiei' 

 a length of about i)(» or 100 mm.; but the IJoyal Mu- 

 seum possesses a specimen ?>'2 mm. long, which was 

 taken at a depth of 1 (! or 17 fathoms on Stora Middel- 

 grund in the Cattegat, on the lOth of dul\-, and another, 

 50 mm. long, which was caught in Sti'omstad l-jord in 

 December. Ekstijo.m also remarks that the specimens 

 he obtained in spring on the coast of Rohuslan were 

 seldom more than from 80 to 100 mii]. long, and he 



oi' even as bait for iargei' fishes, there is no special 

 fisher\' for it. Its fiesh, however, is white, firm and 

 (jf good flavour, its singular appearance has confen-ed 

 u])on it several Swedish names. Its usual name in Bo- 

 husliin is Bottemniis (Bottom-mouse), corresi)onding to 

 the Danish Ilavmus. At Kullen, according to Nilsson, 

 it is called Kiideiusk and at Abekas (.southern ."^cania) 

 Hornugfila (Horned-owl). 



(EksthOm, iSMixr.) 



BLENNOMOEPHI. 



Body elongated, loir aiid lafrraJh/ compressed. Dorsal and anal fins long, iisualli/ irltli simple rays, the majority 

 of irhii-li, on the hack, are generally hard and spinous. Ventral fins {irlicn present) Jagidar or thoracic, free 

 front each other, lint often nith a reduced number of rays. Pectoral fins genertdly n-ifh liroad hasat liones, and 

 the candid fin n-ith o)dy fen- branched rays. Suborbital ring generally without the osseous connexion with the 

 preopercnlnni. Anal jtapilla sometimes present. Scales generally weak and small, imbedded in the slimjt skin: 



or even wanting. 



Around the old genus Blennius of Artedi, GCn- 

 TUEii" has collected this series of families, the common 

 characters of which appear chiefly in the more or less 

 ribbon-shaped body and the numerous spinous rays, 

 genei'ally of uniform strength, in the long dorsal tin, 

 which is most often continuous, Init may also be broken 

 up into two or three tins, the t^vo anterior ones, in 

 the latter case, being spinous-rayed. This series, how- 

 ever, shows traces of forms of transition both to the 

 Labromorphs and to the Malacopterygian Physoclysts. 



Even in some Scandinavian forms, e. g. the geims 

 Anarrhichas, we find traces of a transition in the latter 

 direction, most of the rays in the dorsal tin being soft 

 (l)ut unarticulated), and oidy the hindmost part of 

 the tin retainiiig a number of spinous rays. In the 

 genus Enchelyopus (Zoarces) too, the spinous rays are 

 confined to the posterior ])art of the dorsal fin, and 

 this analogy to Anarrhichas might well ju.stify the re- 

 tention of Enchelyopus within this series. But the 

 structure of the soft dorsal ra^•s, as entirely different 



" Si/sf. Si/,i. Fain. ActiNthopt. Fi.--fi.. Cat. Brit. Mus., Fisli., iin<l in /„tro,!. Studi/ of Fhh.. p. 490 (Hand/). Ichth. p. 348). GiLr. 

 has a corresponding "Snper-f.iiuily", Bleiinoidea, from which lie has, however, exclnded the families which by their various irregularities throw 

 diflicullies in Ihi- way of llie limitation of the series by fixed characters. The families Vepolida; and Trichonotidce are referred by Gill to 

 his Phi/sodysti incertm eedis. The Heterolepidotidoe (Cliindce) he refers to the Cottomorph series — we have above remarked the Idiopterous 

 appearance of these fishes; and even if the osseous coune.xion which they possess between the suborbital ring and the preopereulum, seems 

 scarcely enough to justifj- their inclusion among the Cottomnrphi, still their place in Gill's system, close to the Labromorphi, is perhaps a 

 more snital.le one. For tlic family Mastacembelidce, on the ntlier hand, which GiJNTHKn, in spite of the fact that it is separated from the 

 rest of tin- Physoclysts \'\- the absence of any connexion between the shonlder-girdle and the skull, has referred to the Blennomorph series. 

 Gill, following Cope (Trans. Aincr. Philos. Soc., Philad., n. ser. vol. XIV, p. 456), has retained a special suborder, Opisthomi, which he 

 has placed nearest to the Eels. For tlie genus Eiichelijopus ton. Gu.L has formed a distinct subfamily within the family Lycodidae (Smith's 

 Misc. Coll. Xo. 28.^, p. 7), a place undoubtedly more natural for this genus. See Proc. Acad. Xat Sc. Philad.. 1863, p. 255. 



